Pneumatic action for musical instruments



May 5, 1925.

1,536,150 C. G. SCHNELL ffNEUMATIc AcTloN FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FiledMay 24, 1922 Patented May 5, 1925.

'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES G. SCHNELL, OF NORTH TONAWANDA, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 RUDOLPHWURLITZER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NORTH TONAWANDA, NEW YORK, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PNEUMATIC ACTION FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Application filed May 24, 1922.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES G. SCHNELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at North Tonawanda, in the county ot' Niagara and State of NewYork, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Actions forMusical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the pneumatic actions of player pianos andother automatic musical instruments and more particularly to actionshaving unit valve-blocks.

Its object 4is to improve the construction of such valve-blockswith aview of facilitating their application to and removal from the customarychannel board and avoiding the necessity of removing and replacing theusual air tube nipples in making repairs.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a transverse section of apneumatic action equipped with the improved valve blocks. Figure 2 is afragmentary front view, partly in section, of the channel board andvalve blocks. Figure 3 is a vertical section of one of the valve blocks,on an enlarged scale. Fi re 4 is ahorizontal section on line 4-4, ig. 3.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views.

The pneumatic action, to 'which my improved valve block is applicable`may be ot an)7 suitable or well known construction, but as shown in thedrawings, the same comprises an upright channel board 10, rows ofstriker pneumatics 11 mounted on the rear-side of said board, andcorresponding rows of valve blocks or units 12 mounted on the front sideof said board. These pneumatics are carried by horizontal channel boardsor shelves 13 to the undersides of which their ixed boards are glued orotherwise fastened. lThe upright channel board 10 is provided withlongitudinal vacuum channels 14, one for each row ot valve blocks andthe companion striker pneumatics. The several vacuum channelscommunicate at their ends with a manifold passage 15 which is connectedby a trunk 16 with the usual main exhaust bellows, not shown, so thatsaid channels are constantly exhausted during the operation of theinstrument.

The valve blocks 12 are detachably secured to the channel board .10 byvScrews 17 or ,the

Serial N0. 563,183.

like, which preferably pass through openings 1S in diagonally oppositecorners of said blocks, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, In the examplevillustrated in the drawings, each block contains a lower pouch chamber1-9vconnected by a passage 2O with the corresponding vacuum channel 14of said board, and an upper valve chamber 21 connected with thecorresponding striker pneumatic 11 by a channel 22 extendingtransversely through said channel board and the-corresponding shelf 13,the passage 2o and channel 22 of each block being arranged one above theother and both extending through the rear side of the block. The uppervalve chamber 21 communicates -with the atmosphere through a flushingport 23 and the partition 24 of the block contains a vacuum port 25.Located in said upper valve chamber is a duplex-valve 26, the heads ofwhich co-operate with the vacuum and vent ports 25 and 23, respectively,to open the one when the other is closed and thereby collapse or inflatethe corresponding striker pneumatic in the usual manner.

Arranged in the bottom of the lower chamber 19 of the block is thecustomary valve operating pouch 27 which may be glued vor otherwisesecured to a retaining ring 28 seated in the bottom of said block. Theouter face of this ring is flush with the face of' the block and asealing sheet 29, preferably of frangible material, as paper, is gluedto said face to form an air-tight chamber 30 underneath the pouch.Leading from the. corresponding tracker duct 31 to this cham ber is theusual flexible tube 32 which is connected at its lower end to anelbow-shaped metallic nipple 33 inserted in the outer end of atransverse passage 34 formed in the block. Said passage communicateswith the chamber beneath the pouch 27 through a branch passage 35extending downwardly and inwardly from the transverse passage. Thenipple 33 is usually held in place by glue or shellac to reliably sealthe passage 34, The main rear portion of the passage 34 is arrangedunder and substantially in vertical alinement with the left handscrew-opening 17 of the block, as shown in Fig. 3, and said passage issubstantially parallel with the adjacent side of the block, as shown inFig. 4, while its front portion is diagonal and deflected inwardly ortoward the opposite side of the Abloc-lr and'terminates 'at-the facethereof. The shank of horizontal portion of the nipple 33 is arranged inthe diagonal portion-fof lthe passage 34 .with its inner-[side at anacute -angleto 'the face. of the block, as shown in Fig. `4, bringingits projecting upright portion on the inner side'of the upper left handfastening screw 17 of the block.l

This arrangement permits the nipple to remain Xed and undisturbed vvhenit is desired to.: remove the block for making repairs. He'retoore this'nipple `vvasii 'some 'eases 1o*- catetl directly Under the adjacentattaching 'screw' ofthe `block andi'ts angular oit'er portioneweddifeeay in tiene el the Screw, necessitating'breakage of the sealednipplejelnt 'in order to turn che nppleasde and afford vaccess to saidscrew for removing the block andy 'requiring' the nippleV to be reSealed after replacing theblock. The, time incident tosuch'fresealilngis saved by the present novel varra'njgfement and theliability er neglecting-that actin replacing the bleek ie else miden. j

I claim` as my invention: Y j

1. `Aariit vvalvebleek for pneumatie m'iiisieel instr rents, vcomprisinge valve Chamber having eihaus and flushing porte, valves controllingsaid portsja pouch charnloer' con# taining a .pooch for actuating saidvalves, an

atmospheric chamber vunderneath the pouch and la. pssage'located 'nearone side ofthe block and leading to said'` atmospheric chamloer,- -said'block having a screw-opening ex- `tending rearwardly from its face, andlocated near the same side thereof as said passage,

and an lelbow-shaped nipple connected to" said passage `and 4having itsshankportion extending diagonally from the block With its inner side atan acute angle to the face of the block, whereby the projecting portionof the nipple is offset relative to said screwopening. j n j. Y i f 2. Aunit valveeolock for lpne'uraticniu'sical inistrurnen'ts. comprising a`valv"e-'charr'loer latter; having a screwv-opening` arranged abovefandSubstantially in vertical alinernent 'vvithth'e -inain portion of saidpassage, and an elbow-nipple having itsjshank arranged inthe diagonalfront portion Ofsaid .passage, `whereby its projecting, upright portionis offset relative to said s'crevV-openin CHARLES-G. senti

